Steve Smith is obviously very good at catching footballs.
Steve Smith is apparently very bad at math.
The Panthers wide receiver said he and his teammates aren’t willing to settle for mere improvement on offense, hoping to “double” last year’s output.
Asked if he was excited to see what the Panthers could do in a second year with quarterback Cam Newton and offensive coordinator Rob Chudzinski, Smith shrugged it off.
“Not really. We know what we can do,” he said as he reported to camp, via Joe Person of the Charlotte Observer.
“It’s can we build on it?” he continued. “ Can we double the numbers? I think it’d be great to double the numbers. That’d be good.”
It would be better than that.
Last year, the Panthers were fifth in the league in scoring with 406 points (25.4 per game) and seventh in yards at 6,237 (389.8).
Doubling those numbers to 50.8 points per game and 779.6 per game would be records or something.
Currently, the 2007 Patriots (36.8 points per game) and 2011 Saints (467.1) hold the existing marks.
At Smith’s pace, the Panthers would shatter both those records before Thanksgiving.
Steve’s obviously exaggerating (we think), but the Panthers can get better. Remember, all last year’s work was done with a rookie quarterback learning yet another new system, without the benefit of a proper offseason.
It could get better.